Spring Appeal: Stand Strong With CISPES!

[CISPES National Office]

go to our webpage  <http://www.cispes.org/get_invovled.php>
www.cispes.org/get_invovled.php  if you're having trouble reading this email


 <http://www.cispes.org> www.cispes.org | 202 521-2510|
<http://lists.people-link.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cispes-ern>
subscribe| suscribir
<https://lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cispes-hechos> en
español







April 2008

CISPES Spring Appeal: Stand Strong With Us!

Dear Friend,

For the first time since the 1980’s, we’ve been singled out for attack by
the Department of “Justice.”


Take a moment to support CISPES in the face of renewed threats to the
solidarity movement! 

* Donate <https://chavez.mayfirst.org/cispes/>  to help sustain our work in
face of this attack

* Get your organization to sign the Latin American Solidarity
<http://www.lasolidarity.org/index.shtml>  Coalition letter in defense of
CISPES

* Participate in our Fact
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=363&Itemid=
51>  Finding Delegation to El Salvador in June 2008 or invite a friend to
join

* Attend an event in DC on <http://www.hotsalsa.org/index.php?cid=1000900>
April 29th to learn more 

* Take part in our Days of Action in May
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_contact&catid=59&Itemid=3>  (contact
your local committee) 

In January CISPES received a letter from their National Security Division
saying that they suspected us of being an “agent of a foreign principal” and
wanted us to register under the “Foreign Agents Registration Act.”

Their justification? They claimed that the FMLN had hired CISPES to do
public relations and fundraising support for their presidential campaign in
the US. 

Our response was clear: [see sidebar for more information]

• CISPES solidarity with the FMLN began in 1980 and continues today. 

• It is based on a shared vision of a more just world; there is no financial
or contractual agreement. We have a solidarity relationship—what we have in
common is a commitment to building a cross border movement that will unite
the poor and working people of the US and El Salvador in our struggle for
social justice. 

• Therefore we will not register with the US government, but rather assert
that we will continue our support for the Salvadoran struggle for social
justice as part of our democratic right to free speech. 

• Finally, our response to any attempt by the US government to infringe on
those rights will not be to retreat one inch but rather to build the
strongest, broadest resistance movement we can. 

Many of you remember, I’m sure, that CISPES was the object of the most
extensive internal security “investigation” of the Reagan presidency. 

And did you know that the CISPES infiltration of the 1980’s all began in
1981 with an attempt to get CISPES to register under the same Foreign Agents
Registration Act?! Back then, their campaign of surveillance, harassment,
and intimidation of CISPES lasted for years. Like other FBI COINTELPRO
campaigns, this operation had a sinister purpose—to intimidate and silence
movements that fight for people’s empowerment in the face of repression.


LEARN MORE! 

* read the latest El
<http://www.cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=385&Itemid=
60>  Salvador Watch Newsletter 

* read the CISPES
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=356&Itemid=27>
press release and public statement 

* check out the Free
<http://www.fsrn.org/content/us-government-re-targets-committee-solidarity-w
ith-people-el-salvador/1565>  Speech Radio News piece on CISPES 

* Read an article
<http://cispes.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=355&Itemid=75>
about the history of FBI investigation of CISPES

Leading solidarity activists and organizations agree that this threat is
very real and it stems from what we’ve been talking about for some time
now—El Salvador is joining the left turn in Latin America, and Bush and
ARENA are terrified. That’s why the Latin America Solidarity Coalition is
circulating this letter of protest to the Department of Justice. Your
organization can sign it at www.lasolidarity.org 

Bush and the right-wing Salvadoran ARENA party want to stop CISPES from
playing a key role in providing effective solidarity. We understand that
this threat is meant to frighten us into changing the nature of our work—to
make us think twice about standing with the FMLN as a leading opponent of US
domination in Latin America. 

While we take the government’s threat very seriously, we have no intention
of backing down. In the 1980’s we took the offensive against the FBI and we
will not be intimidated this time either. That’s why we continue to
organize! In early May our local committees will be taking actions locally
in relation to the Department of Justice letter, and we are planning a Fact
Finding Delegation to El Salvador this summer to document US intervention
and human rights violations. 

We hope you will stand strong with us and with the Salvadoran people—show
Bush and his agents that you will not be intimidated! Please make a
<https://chavez.mayfirst.org/cispes/>  generous gift to support our work
today!

In solidarity,




Burke Stansbury, Executive Director

P.S. We may be calling on you to defend our right to organize and take
action in our campaigns. Look out for more action alerts about US support
for the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) and potential State
Department intervention in the Salvadoran elections - coming soon!

 




If you no longer wish to receive our emails, you may unsubscibe
<http://lists.people-link.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/cispes-ern>  here

© 2008 CISPES - The Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador
CISPES National Office | ph. 202-521-2510 | 1525 Newton St. NW, Wash. DC
20010| cispes at cispes.org

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-ern/attachments/20080423/a2f053c9/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 21685 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-ern/attachments/20080423/a2f053c9/attachment-0001.jpeg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.people-link.net/pipermail/cispes-ern/attachments/20080423/a2f053c9/attachment-0001.gif